THE GLOBAL TRUTH CAMPAIGN AND TOUR

Since its founding twelve years ago, CHN’s aim has been to engage a critical mass of Black people in the journey toward emotional emancipation by 2019, the 400th anniversary of the first recorded forced arrival of Africans in the United States, so that, by the year 2020, we as a people will begin to see ourselves in a whole new light.

With 2019 just around the corner, CHN is working toward this goal with its multi-city 2018-2020 Global Truth Campaign and Tour–to heal, and end, the trauma caused by 600 years of anti-Black racism.

Our rallying cry is “Defy the Lie and Embrace the Truth,” and we are equipping Black adults to help Black children “defy the lie of Black inferiority and embrace the truth of Black humanity.”

Our objectives are to:

1) heighten awareness of the need for emotional healing across the African Diaspora;

2) invite our sisters and brothers to join us on the journey toward emotional emancipation;

3) equip them with concrete emotional wellness skills to reduce racial stress and trauma; and

4) connect them with CHN and with each other for ongoing resources and trainings through a global online community so that together we can continue to strengthen our abilities to serve as catalysts for emotional healing and wellness in our communities.

In collaboration with our primary ally, the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi), we launched the Truth Tour on October 12, 13, and 14, 2018, from CHN’s birthplace of New Haven, CT. We presented Breathe, Baby, Breathe, a weekend retreat for Black people responsible for Black children; Clearing the Way for Black Children to Flourish, a workshop for other community leaders; and the 2018 Community Healer Awards reception. And by all accounts, the Tour is off to a great start. The feedback was uniformly positive with one participant summing up the experience simply as “love, commitment, tools, the Way Out.”

At each stop along the Tour, CHN and ABPsi will introduce participants to Emotional Emancipation Circles, the healing experience that has been described as “life-changing,” and is resonating with Black people around the world. Participants will leave with a deepened understanding of the trauma of anti-Black racism, its effects on Black children, and the pathway to healing. They’ll learn concrete skills for reducing racial stress and trauma–skills they can share with others to help create a culture of healing and wellness in their communities. Participants will also have the opportunity to join CHN’s evolving global online community for ongoing support as they continue on the journey toward emotional emancipation–and help others along the way.

Among the possible next steps on the Truth Tour are (in no particular order):

Los Angeles, CA

Pittsburgh, PA

Baltimore, MD

New York, NY

Richmond, VA

Chicago, IL

Kingston, Jamaica

Johannesburg, South Africa

Ghana, West Africa

Birmingham, United Kingdom

Toronto, Canada

We are in conversation with sisters and brothers in these communities to make sure we’re not just dropping into communities, but are instead co-creating each Tour stop experience with local leaders before we arrive.

In August 2019, we’ll stop in Richmond, Virginia to host the Valuing Black Lives Global Emotional Emancipation Summit. Virginia is the place in the United States in which the lies about Black people were first cultivated and then spread throughout the nation. Virginia is therefore the place in which CHN and ABPsi will issue a Call to the African Union and the African Diaspora to put the matter of emotional emancipation – complete freedom from the lies of White superiority and Black inferiority – at the top of the global African agenda.